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A History of French TV

"Une Histoire de la télévision française"
French B2 writing exercise

Learn some interesting facts about the beginnings of French TV.

When appropriate, use Le Passé Composé, not Le Passé Simple in this text.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "the Ministry of Information", "to modernise", "to result in [something]", "a TV program/a TV show", "a TV host", "to reach", "iconic", "a viewer (TV)", "a female announcer (TV)", "to announce", "upcoming", "live on air", "privileged", "a household".

Written by qualified French expert Céline Pickard PGCE, BA
Last updated: 2023-01-05

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise
How the test works
You’ll practise: Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), Pronom relatif, L'Imparfait (Indicatif)

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

In the fifties, General de Gaulle, who was then President of the French Republic, asked the Ministry of Information to modernise French TV, which resulted in the creation of the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, or ORTF, in 1964. Its main mission was to educate, inform and entertain. At that time, a variety of TV programs appeared on French screens, including foreign series like American series "Rintintin" and popular TV host Guy Lux's "Le palmarès des chansons", which was the first show to reach fifteen million viewers in the history of French television. It was also the time of the arrival of the iconic "speakerines", those female announcers who helped viewers to pick what to watch by announcing upcoming programs live on air. And it was on October 1st 1967 that about 1,500 privileged French households were able to watch TV in colour for the first time.

Thinking...